Portable beverage containers are known, where it is desirable to place a removable lid on the container in order to ensure the contents do not spill during transportation and, in the case of hot beverages, to ensure that the contents remain heated for an period of time after the beverage is poured. Flasks and other reusable beverage containers tend to include features such as stoppers or integral straw arrangements in order to contain the beverage and then pour or drink the beverage from the container when desired. Whilst such arrangements may be justified on reusable containers, in relative terms they are overly complicated and costly for use with much cheaper disposable beverage containers such as those used by coffee shops for takeaway coffees and teas for instance.
With these kinds of disposable container it is known to provide a lid formed from a plastics material, where there is an aperture provided in the lid so that the beverage may be drunk whilst the lid remains in place. One disadvantage of such lids is that inadvertent bumping or shaking of the container can lead to the beverage splashing out through the aperture in the lid.
WO2010/071790 discloses a splash-resistant lid for a disposable beverage container where the aperture in the lid is provided with a number of examples of baffle arrangements which are aim at preventing the beverage splashing out of the aperture. However, whilst the baffle arrangements may reduce or prevent splashing, they are complicated to form and would consequently increase the cost of the disposable lid. Furthermore, the baffles proposed would have a detrimental effect on the flow rate of the beverage through the aperture(s) in the lid.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a splash-resistant lid for a beverage container which obviates or mitigates the aforementioned disadvantages in the prior art.